Post your snow leopard flaws (The Snow Leopard bug report)

[ryannazaretian]

Does anyone have an issue where your computer will say "Pardon Me..." or any of the other alert messages when your battery gets low, even though you have both of the announcement boxes unchecked in Text to Speech?

Also, I have the crappy battery life problem. I'm getting about 2 hours per charge, although if I let it sit there doing nothing with the screen off, it will last for about 4 hours.

I called Apple about this issue, and the woman I spoke to thought that it was funny that my computer was saying this to me. I'm sure she was just trying to be good humored, but having a laptop with a screaming Super Drive when it comes out of wake and says Pardon Me when I forget to mute my laptop in class is pretty embarrassing.

Here's a video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ETZndI6v6w

 

[Eidorian]

I've managed to dig up this thread over on the Apple Support discussions.

It looks like files older than about March 28, 2008 return kMDItemFinderComment = (null).

Newer files return their proper Spotlight comments.

 

[idunn]

Like the word of God

When choosing 'Save As' in TextEdit nothing will happen for perhaps 4 (four) seconds before the dialogue box finally appears. I finally decided to time it, but of course then one of the instances when it works instantly, as it ALWAYS did before Snow Leopard. Now it pauses frequently and long enough to be a bother.

I've also noticed there can be a pause in starting a movie in iTunes of about 3 (three) seconds, perhaps longer. It begins with a perfectly black screen, then after the pause the movie begins, usually with a few initial stutters. I'll have to pay more attention, but do not recall the same prior to Snow Leopard, although this possibly a result of the latest iTunes upgrade.

Just tonight I watched one of the latest Apple ads on television, where the girl with the box is trying to decide between the hopeless PC guy and our Mac genius. Bemused might be too weak or kind a term for my thoughts when she told the PC guy she had just had too much aggravation with him and thus going with Mac. Before Snow Leopard I would have largely agreed; NOW I know what she means by aggravation, and it has nothing to do with PCs.

Apple should read this thread like the Gospel, and take it to heart. I'll still swear there is nothing better on the market, and I love the eloquence of their design and function, but something I REALLY value, and probably not alone in this, is rock solid reliability.

 

[ryannazaretian]

When choosing 'Save As' in TextEdit nothing will happen for perhaps 4 (four) seconds before the dialogue box finally appears. I finally decided to time it, but of course then one of the instances when it works instantly, as it ALWAYS did before Snow Leopard. Now it pauses frequently and long enough to be a bother.

I've also noticed there can be a pause in starting a movie in iTunes of about 3 (three) seconds, perhaps longer. It begins with a perfectly black screen, then after the pause the movie begins, usually with a few initial stutters. I'll have to pay more attention, but do not recall the same prior to Snow Leopard, although this possibly a result of the latest iTunes upgrade.

Just tonight I watched one of the latest Apple ads on television, where the girl with the box is trying to decide between the hopeless PC guy and our Mac genius. Bemused might be too weak or kind a term for my thoughts when she told the PC guy she had just had too much aggravation with him and thus going with Mac. Before Snow Leopard I would have largely agreed; NOW I know what she means by aggravation, and it has nothing to do with PCs.

Apple should read this thread like the Gospel, and take it to heart. I'll still swear there is nothing better on the market, and I love the eloquence of their design and function, but something I REALLY value, and probably not alone in this, is rock solid reliability.

I've had the same Save As problem with all programs... iWork apps, Text Edit, Quicktime, iLife apps, etc... Haven't experienced any since the update, but then again, I haven't been using it long enough to deem it fixed.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Odd issues I've noticed since updating to Snow Leopard:

10.6.0 only (fixed in 10.6.1): None, thank goodness.
10.6.0 - 10.6.1 only (fixed in 10.6.2): None here either.
New in 10.6.2: Sound volume setting randomly resets itself to the OS default. Annoying, but not serious.

 

[tigres]

Download folder shows incorrect size of files

Don't know if this is posted, however my download folder is showing files of 4.6 mb, when finder shows it 36.8 mb.

This is a common theme on most of the files in my download folder. I first noticed it on my fusion 3 download DMG where it shows incorrect size.

Thoughts?

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Don't know if this is posted, however my download folder is showing files of 4.6 mb, when finder shows it 36.8 mb.

This is a common theme on most of the files in my download folder. I first noticed it on my fusion 3 download DMG where it shows incorrect size.

Thoughts?

OS X Leopard uses base 10 instead of base 2. I don't know if that helps. 4.6 to 36.8 can't be a difference in base 10 and 2 counting though...

 

[iEdd]

OS X Leopard uses base 10 instead of base 2. I don't know if that helps. 4.6 to 36.8 can't be a difference in base 10 and 2 counting though...

Interesting... My finder still shows my HDD as 222.13GB, not 250GB, so it seems mine's still showing stuff in base 2. (Which I prefer anyway.)

Edit: Nevermind, activity monitor says:
Capacity: 222.13 GB (222,130,339,840 bytes)
Available: 43.86 GB (43,856,863,232 bytes)

And I'm a dumbass, I forgot I partitioned it for bootcamp a couple of weeks ago

 

[TinHead88]

Snow Leopard and third party stuff

There are a lot of and a wide variety of complaints about Snow Leopard on this thread. And people are quick to blame Apple and compare them to MS (typical of people who have had to deal with PCs running MS operating systems and then somehow expect that EVERYTHING magically works without due care when they move to Apple).

Sorry people, but you do have to be careful what third party stuff is installed. Backup your drive then format it and do a completely clean install of SL. Install your apps and re-create your settings. I know it's a pain but it can prevent weirdness that is very difficult to track down. Be especially careful with third party stuff that installs drivers such as sound devices, 3g modems, etc. I would guess that %90 of the complaints on this thread would no longer be applicable after this procedure.

There are some issues with SL for sure. I had the problem of sleep taking ages. I did some googling and found out it could be due to drivers. I found a newer update to my Apogee Duet and ever since sleep takes maybe 3 seconds as it should.

Overall I find SL much quicker for disk operations and certain software seems to show an increase in speed also.

I have had Safari crash when trying to log in to the APC forums, and generally I am having only occasional problems with some software that has not yet been updated for SL. It always takes too long for third parties to come to the party. As always, to play it safe (if your computer didn't ship with SL installed) you should wait for these issues to be fixed by all the relevant developers.

Cheers, and good luck...
Tom

 

[ryannazaretian]

There are a lot of and a wide variety of complaints about Snow Leopard on this thread. And people are quick to blame Apple and compare them to MS (typical of people who have had to deal with PCs running MS operating systems and then somehow expect that EVERYTHING magically works without due care when they move to Apple).

Sorry people, but you do have to be careful what third party stuff is installed. Backup your drive then format it and do a completely clean install of SL. Install your apps and re-create your settings. I know it's a pain but it can prevent weirdness that is very difficult to track down. Be especially careful with third party stuff that installs drivers such as sound devices, 3g modems, etc. I would guess that %90 of the complaints on this thread would no longer be applicable after this procedure.

There are some issues with SL for sure. I had the problem of sleep taking ages. I did some googling and found out it could be due to drivers. I found a newer update to my Apogee Duet and ever since sleep takes maybe 3 seconds as it should.

Overall I find SL much quicker for disk operations and certain software seems to show an increase in speed also.

I have had Safari crash when trying to log in to the APC forums, and generally I am having only occasional problems with some software that has not yet been updated for SL. It always takes too long for third parties to come to the party. As always, to play it safe (if your computer didn't ship with SL installed) you should wait for these issues to be fixed by all the relevant developers.

Cheers, and good luck...
Tom

Please don't come to assumptions...

I basically only have Apple software running. I have no 3rd party addons to any OS components, and the only 3rd party software I have is MatLab, Mathematica, Firefox, and Virtual Box. I had to fight to get MatLab and Mathematica working because they were incompatible.

I believe I'm among the worse here with experienced problems. I mainly have issues with Safari and Mail, which have no addons at all. Safari has the beach ball problem, and Mail will not work randomly. Also had the airport issues where it would disconnect until I restarted AirPort.

I also clean installed the OS. Why do I have all these issues? I don't know... I may reinstall Snow Leopard this weekend because if I remember right, my installation hard froze my laptop during the install and I had to restart.

Again, just because you don't have issues does not mean that other people will not.

I'm very frustrated with Apple right now due to many reasons (Lack of Boot Camp support (aka just blame Microsoft, we don't support it), Snow Leopard problems, and my 1G iPod touch is having a lot of problems after the latest update including freezing, sluggishness, wifi problems, safari crashes, etc...)

 

[Benjamin Rossen]

I agree, Ryannazaretian

I have a similar experience. All my application software working through Darwin is showing the same symptoms on my MacPro. Any action that requires access to the disk causes a long delay (20 seconds or so) without any visible activity except freezing of the system, followed by another longer delay (up to a minute or so) with a spinning beach ball. This includes all browsers (Safari, Firefox and Opera) and applications (Adobe CS4, MS Office).

This does not apply to anything that I run as a native UNIX application installed from the ports tree, and used from the command prompt. Eclipse IDE is also working without a hitch even though it is installed with its desktop GUI.

I conclude that the problem is likely to be poor API between the desktop and the UNIX under the hood.

We tend to think that Apple is magnificently better than anything else. The truth is, MS is pretty bad, but not a terrible as some people think, and Apple is pretty good, but not a great as we would like it to be. I hope Apple is reading this forum and working on patches to fix these broken bits.

 

[idunn]

10.6.2 & counting . . .

So I just updated to SL 10.6.2, and first thing I notice on launch is that icons I've placed in the Dock (for applications, including one of Apple's) don't work (they appear with the question mark, and have to be re-installed). YET AGAIN!

Not that I haven't mentioned this problem to Apple before, but perhaps their Genius' at the store don't communicate with headquarters. Or maybe this too minor a problem to concern themselves with on yet another update.

Hey guys, maybe by 10.6.7 or 8 this won't happen?

 

[BraveArts]

Mail attachments not showing up in message

Since upgrading to Snow Leopard then immediately to 10.6.2 I have only encountered a few minor glitches.
Similar bluetooth issues as other users whereby the Mac loses connection with either the mouse or the keyboard temporarily (but always at the most inopportune moment).

In MAIL, I can no longer see attachments as part of the message. They appear as little blue LEGO blocks with question marks on them. However if I then save the attachments to my hard disk using the "save" button in the message header, after having saved them the attachments then appear as part of the message. Odd!

 

[dukeee]

Snow Leopards ins most disappointing release in years

I have SL rolled out on six machines and have to say it is the worst OS Apple rolled out in a while (especially after all the media hype they would focus only on stability and usability).

On all my machines SL causes frequent crashes of multiple apps including Mail, iPhoto Aperture, Little Snitch etc.

It often takes a long while for the systems to respond, open folders etc.

Very disappointing, also thinking about going back to Leopard as a matter of fact have rolled back my home media centre to Leopard.

 

[craig1410]

I have SL rolled out on six machines and have to say it is the worst OS Apple rolled out in a while (especially after all the media hype they would focus only on stability and usability).

On all my machines SL causes frequent crashes of multiple apps including Mail, iPhoto Aperture, Little Snitch etc.

It often takes a long while for the systems to respond, open folders etc.

Very disappointing, also thinking about going back to Leopard as a matter of fact have rolled back my home media centre to Leopard.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Have you considered the possibility that there may be something in common (apart from your good self... ) that might be causing your issues? Is there an incompatible piece of software for example which you have installed in all machines or is there a particular combination of preferences which might be causing your issues?

Given that you have a fairly large investment in Apple machines I think I would be inclined to investigate fully, ideally by taking one of the machines and doing a clean install of SL plus all the latest software updates but leaving off all other software components initially and then add them one at a time until you start to see issues (or not hopefully).

In my opinion, there are too many people like myself who are not having any issues to speak of with SL to be able to say that it is the worst release of OS X for a while. Hang in there and find a solution.

Good luck!
Craig.


ps. I don't know how experienced you are so forgive me if I underestimate your skills but have you repaired permissions and run the various maintenance procedures and have you tried reapplying the 10.6.2 Combo update? If you don't know what I'm meaning then let me know and I'll give you more details.

 

[MythicFrost]

All I can say is do a clean install (do TM backups and external backups of all your important files so you can put your stuff back on) don't migrate data from an existing drive, don't upgrade, and don't install from Time Machine,
So you have a fresh OS, it's a bit of a hassle but it can be required to get SL working, SL on my machine runs brilliantly.

 

[dukeee]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Have you considered the possibility that there may be something in common (apart from your good self... ) that might be causing your issues? Is there an incompatible piece of software for example which you have installed in all machines or is there a particular combination of preferences which might be causing your issues?

Given that you have a fairly large investment in Apple machines I think I would be inclined to investigate fully, ideally by taking one of the machines and doing a clean install of SL plus all the latest software updates but leaving off all other software components initially and then add them one at a time until you start to see issues (or not hopefully).

In my opinion, there are too many people like myself who are not having any issues to speak of with SL to be able to say that it is the worst release of OS X for a while. Hang in there and find a solution.

Good luck!
Craig.


ps. I don't know how experienced you are so forgive me if I underestimate your skills but have you repaired permissions and run the various maintenance procedures and have you tried reapplying the 10.6.2 Combo update? If you don't know what I'm meaning then let me know and I'll give you more details.

I'm using Apple Mac since 1993 so would say I know may way around. Each machines is different configured some are clean installs, some are update and there is no novelty software running on any of them. I certainly repaired permission zapped the PRAM etc. but fact is SL from my experience is not very stable for a system which is not supposed to crash and just had a 12 month "improvement" overhaul.

 

[idunn]

I'd just like to add...

First the comment. There are a number of comments and suggestions on this thread to do a clean install of SL. That is what I eventually had to do, and it solved the most serious problems. BUT it is not what I expected to have to do, nor the way Apple markets this 'upgrade.' Supposedly the upgrade to SL should be fairly seamless, merely put the disc in and agree to their lawyer's terms, and you're more or less good to go. Theoretically. And why not, isn't that what Apple has always promised in ease of use and absence of hassles, not to mention the way it usually happens in such upgrades? What gives now and why are they subjecting us to this?

As for specifics. I still notice TextEdit hanging up sometimes on 'Save As,' with a similar issue with other programs as well. Not to mention seeing the spinning beach ball more often lately than I ever recall before.

Another annoying issue, which existed before SL but certainly no better now, is the tendency of this computer to slowly fill up until stuffed. By that I mean it gradually gets more and more sluggish until either malfunctioning or just so slow to be unbearable. In either case the only solution is to restart, which freshens all but begins the process all over again. I keep a lot of windows open and otherwise put a lot of demand on its brain, so there is that. But from several iterations of OS before I recall talk of better memory management, and the entire system rarely crashes, so good, but as is still not stable or perfect. And one aspect of keeping lots of things in play is about the time all is humming along the way one prefers, why just about then the necessity of restarting and re-establishing it all again.

Maybe it is too much to ask, but I just want a computer to do what I want, when I want, as fast as I want . . . without any lip.

 

[MythicFrost]

I'm curious, did both of you (idunn, dukeee), did* you do a clean install without migrating any data or installing from TM?

 

[dyn]

Please don't come to assumptions...

They are not assumptions, it is experience and knowledge. Major updates/upgrades will cause incompatibility and problems and it doesn't matter if it's an application, a website or an OS and it absolutely doesn't matter what application/website/OS. In other words, you need to prepare yourself that things will be broken after installing the update/upgrade. That means you'll have to have backups and you'll have to look for updates/upgrades for your software if necessary.

A lot of people seem to forget these things and start blaming Apple for the fact they upgraded blindly to a new OS. Maybe they are right and something is indeed wrong with the new version but it can also be caused by 3rd party things that are incompatible with the new version. You can't blame that on Apple but on the developer (who mostly quickly resolves the problem and pushes out an update). It's not just 3rd party stuff and it's not just Snow Leopard.

 

[Amdahl]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Have you considered the possibility that there may be something in common (apart from your good self... ) that might be causing your issues?

Macs Just Work. But when they don't, invoke the Aluminum Rule: If an Apple product fails to impress, it is due to user error!

Given that you have a fairly large investment in Apple machines I think I would be inclined to investigate fully, ideally by taking one of the machines and doing a clean install of SL plus all the latest software updates but leaving off all other software components initially and then add them one at a time until you start to see issues (or not hopefully).

Or just wait for 10.6.4.

In my opinion, there are too many people like myself who are not having any issues to speak of with SL to be able to say that it is the worst release of OS X for a while.

Another member of Apple's Secret Snow Leopard Beta Test Team.

Hang in there and find a solution.

Or just wait and let Apple fix it.

 

[idunn]

Beyond had it

I've always treated this MacBook with kid gloves. Until lately, and specifically until right now. I'm not proud to admit it, but perfectly willing that only moments ago I was pounding on this thing, screaming: "You piece of sh*t!" repeatedly. Apparently it got the message, and why I am able to write this.

What precipitate this unfortunate event was in no more than doing that now, writing something via TextEdit. And finding, as it has ever since SL, that inexplicably entire paragraphs vanish at a keystroke, necessitating an 'Undo Typing,' or it would refuse to type a character at all, or highlight areas above or below, or the curser suddenly migrate and one find they are over typing something else. Not to mention typing only to find TextEdit has suddenly vanished behind another window, pulling it forward again only to have it happen over and over. In other words either a minor annoyance, or a near terminal problem.

But that wasn't enough. I had enough forbearance to more or less calmly manage to save that typed and restart this MacBook, only to be confronted with what has happened before, and possibly only under SL, that of no title bar at the top of the screen, and virtually illegible icons in consequence. Or, what has happened before but not in this instance: find on restart that the pull down box under 'Finder' (next the Apple logo, upper left corner) is automatically open and will not retreat, or pops back open on its own, all of which necessitates another restart and crossed fingers. So it was at this point that I did yet another hard shut down, and began to beat on this machine.

One might suggest I simply visit the nearest Apple store, and leave this poor computer unmolested. Which I have, repeatedly; they inform me this computer is perfectly fine, and otherwise ignore stories of what SL has apparently wrought. Still I wonder. Maybe this poor thing is out of adjustment, and no more than a palm rested on it perhaps cause weird events in TextEdit and elsewhere, such as a willful curser in browser email. So I resorted to typing as lightly as possible with my fingertips, holding my breath. All to no avail. But of course now with a serious reprimand and at least two restarts all is fine again, for how long I have no idea.

I still love Apple. But sometimes this Macbook is lucky it doesn't end up in the river.

 

[ryannazaretian]

They are not assumptions, it is experience and knowledge. Major updates/upgrades will cause incompatibility and problems and it doesn't matter if it's an application, a website or an OS and it absolutely doesn't matter what application/website/OS. In other words, you need to prepare yourself that things will be broken after installing the update/upgrade. That means you'll have to have backups and you'll have to look for updates/upgrades for your software if necessary.

A lot of people seem to forget these things and start blaming Apple for the fact they upgraded blindly to a new OS. Maybe they are right and something is indeed wrong with the new version but it can also be caused by 3rd party things that are incompatible with the new version. You can't blame that on Apple but on the developer (who mostly quickly resolves the problem and pushes out an update). It's not just 3rd party stuff and it's not just Snow Leopard.

Most of my problems have been with Safari, and other OSX functionality such as Save As in all programs.

I just reinstalled Snow Leopard last night. Formatted the drive and all, but still experiencing a lot of beach balls lasting 20 seconds or longer on simple things such as "Save as PDF" or "Save As." At this time, I really don't have any 3rd Party software, or any software tweaks in place. Just the basics like Firefox and Virtual Box, but neither running at the time of the problems.

I don't know if this fixed my battery notification problem that embarrassed me during class, as I have yet to drain my battery.

I'm starting to think something may be wrong with my laptop. I noticed that my Windows Experience index for my hard drive went down to 5.8, when it was at 6.0. Hopefully there's nothing wrong, but I have everything backed up just in case.

 

[RxRoto]

"Save" Screen Distorts

When I go to "Save-as" in powerpoint, word etc.. the screen will sometimes open up and distort very badly (see pic). I have to click on "cancel" (or the general area of the cancel button), then I retry it and it usually doesn't distort or it isn't as bad. Any fixes?

 

[celticpride678]

The only issue I am still having (after 10.6.2) is that it does not go to sleep automatically. I can tell it to go to sleep, close the lid or anything else manual, but it will not automatically. The display sleeps fine, but the computer doesn't. I have since installed PleaseSleep, and it seems to work, but Mac OS X should be able to do this by itself. C'mon, Apple!